Hostess bar trips 'part of bank culture'

VISITS to hostess bars were part of the culture at an investment bank where a senior analyst claims she was forced out through sex discrimination, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Julie Bower, 35, says that her annual bonus at Schroder Securities Ltd was £25,000 compared with the £125,000 payment two men received. Her case, backed by the Equal Opportunities Commission, is also that managers decided to oust her from her £120,000-a-year job because she was suffering from cancer and later became pregnant.

Mrs Bower, who left the firm two years ago, is seeking damages at an employment tribunal in Stratford, east London, for sexual discrimination, constructive dismissal, unequal pay and breach of contract. Reeth Sack, who was head of European sales at the time, told the hearing: "It is the culture in the City that some clients like to go to hostess bars and some brokers will go there as well."

She found such establishments "despicable". But Miss Sack, who held the second most senior position ever held by a woman at Schroder Securities, denied that the firm discriminated against women.